


tigers in the spiderweb

by AwayLaughing



Category: Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28147170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwayLaughing/pseuds/AwayLaughing
Summary: A Jiyeli and a Revairin delegate find themselves in one another's sphere of influences. First in a onesided game of a sorts, and then as pressures both factional and otherwise grow.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	tigers in the spiderweb

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jillyfae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/gifts).



It was, by any metric, unfair but Lord Kanen of Tanay knew better than to ever say such words aloud. At best, it made you seem petulant. At worst, it would summon his grandmother from beyond the grave to release a tirade against childish entitlement that might even get through the Prince of Revaire’s head.

He could think it though.

Lady Hanako shouldn’t even be here – everyone and anyone knew that, up to and including people from other nations. She was meant to just be a place holder, not a problem. They already had to contend with _the Duke_ , and Lady Avalie. One was bad enough, but he’d planned for the dual snarls. The Duke might be obscenely rich and one sneeze away from being a true blooded Imperial, but he was notoriously recalcitrant. He basically dealt with himself. Lady Avalie on the other hand – well he’d had only two classes with her in University and that was exactly enough to realize he hadn’t the skills to handle her.

Lady Hanako though?

How was he meant to have known he had to plan for Lady Hanako of all people?

As she sat down, the whispers of the crowd rose to a slightly-above murmur. Kanen felt a brief surge of relief that he was not one of the three people forced to go after her, one quickly smothered when one of the Revairin delegates leaned over to him.

“You don’t seem pleased for your countrywoman, Lord Tanay,” she said, dark eyes glittering in the candlelight.

“You are mistaken, when one of us succeeds we all benefit. In Jiyel, at least,” he said and she laughed softly.

“Oh yes? And here I thought the whole method by which you got here was competition. One Lady Hanako got to skip entirely.” Revairin fashion these days seemed to encourage looking just this side of dead, emphasizing pallor in all things, but somehow her teeth still looked very sharp and white when she smiled. It had the added effect of making her eyes unsettlingly dark – the lone points of black in otherwise icy features.

But let it not be said Kanen was an easily bullied man. No, he’d left that behind when he was a child. Keeping his easy smile fixed in place, he shrugged. “Lady Hanako is a shining beacon of duty,” he said, “supporting our nation and her family alike.”

“Yes, truly an icon,” the woman said laughing softly. She pulled away just as the delegate from Wellin – a very soft faced young man Kanen belatedly realized he’d not heard a word from – stepped down. “And into the fire for me, it seems. Wish me luck, Lord Tanay?”

“If you’re relying on luck, you’re already in trouble,” he said.

“-Lady Vaida of Bevu,” the head buttler’s voice rang out.

“But certainly,” he said as if he’d always intended to say more. “Good luck, Lady Bevu.”

She was still laughing when she walked up to the stage, though most people would think it nothing more than a bright smile.

* * *

You could have cut the tension in the tea room with a knife, albeit with great difficulty, but Vaida was not here because she was transparent. Sipping her tea, she looked between the seven members of their party, never letting her attention stray too far from Gisette, who was currently holding court. Next to his sister, the Prince was starting to look a bit...fidgety.

The jewel of the monarchy indeed.

Burying the idea as quickly as it occurred, she returned to her duty of studying everything very, very closely. Lord Clarmont was in fine form today, she noticed, speaking with Lord Adalric and Lady Marin. Lord Adalric was looking a bit distracted, but then he’d been circling one of the Arland delegates – the little one the Princess hated. Maybe he was late for an engagement.

Or maybe he took was just pointedly not trying to stare at the clock too hard. The few times she had very nonchalantly caught sight of it, she did have to admit time was proving agonizingly slow, relative to usual.

“-lieve that is it for the day,” the Princess said, standing. Vaida very quickly adjusted her focus to being fully on their hostess. “I’ve kept you long enough.”

“Oh no your highness,” Vaida said, a soft murmur that blended with several others to be a chorus of wordless simpering. The Princess held up a hand, smile pleased, and gestured for her brother to follow.

“I will see everyone at supper,” she said. “Lord Adalric, you wanted a meeting tomorrow?”

“At your leisure,” he said, tone more relaxed than his shoulders.

“Two hours after lunch,” she said, and promptly slipped from the room. No one else moved.

No one broke the sudden silence, either, and Vaida sipped at her tea, considering if she should take another tiny cake or not. Her mother would say no. Her mother was not here. Reaching over, she was surprised to find the tray shift towards her when she came up a bit short.

Her eyes met Lord Clarmont’s across the table, and he smiled at boyish smile at her.

She smiled back reflexively, and regretted it.

Vaida was not stupid. Lord Clarmont’s presence here was dangerous. Whether because he was up to something, or because her Highness was Vaida didn’t know, but it hardly mattered.

“Thank you, Lord Clarmont,” she said.

“Of course, Lady Bevu,” he said.

It took three more minutes for people to risk trickling out – Lord Adalric leading the charge. Though she shouldn’t, Vaida reached out subtly to tug at his coat as he passed. He didn’t stop fully, but she managed to offer him a small smile. He nodded back, his own smile a thin thing. She resisted the urge to look around, to see if anyone had noticed.

It wasn’t, she reminded herself, anything dangerous. They’d grown up together. Her good wishes for him were passive at best.

Reflexively she reached down for another tiny cake. Lord Clarmont did too, and soon it was just the two of them.

“Lord Clarmont,” she said, standing before Lady Helene’s skirts were fully out the door. “Enjoy your afternoon.”

“You as well, Lady Bevu,” he said, clearly content to linger.

As she headed down the hall, she kept her steps steady, lest anyone think she was fleeing something as mundane as a tea room. The two Corvali delegates she passed paid her no mind, caught up in whispering to one another.

Plotting a poisoning or something, she could only assume.

* * *

It was a dark, dark day when the library was dubbed an unsafe place, but having already been upbraided once today by the General, Kanen was on high alert. Which was why, when he saw Lady Avalie gliding into the grand doors ahead of him, he quickly readjusted his course.

No. After being reminded of every mistake his family had ever made and how it was his job to do what he could to alleviate them, somehow, in the next four weeks, he did not need to somehow get sucked into a confrontation between Lady Avalie and Duke Lyon.

Legends said Lady Jiyela had in fact not been married off in a suspicious rush. Rather, she’d found herself between those two forces. They were still carefully getting the blood of the book spines.

Turning on his heel, he’d hoped no one saw his tactful retreat. As it was, he nearly trod on Lady Bevu.

Based on her bloodless smile, she didn’t mind.

“Why Lord Tanay, developing a sense for my presence?” she asked, fluttering pale lashes at him.

“No,” he said bluntly. “Excuse me.”

“Oh you didn’t step on me, don’t worry,” she said – and before he could assure he was not worried about any such things, she had him by the elbow. “Though it’s very gentlemanly of you to be concerned.”

“That’s me,” he said, eyeing her. “Weren’t you headed the other way?”

“Weren’t you?” she asked.

Unable to argue that point, Kanen sighed. “Where to?” he asked.

“Hm,” she tapped her chin. “Are you a good dancer, Lord Tanay?”

“Dancer?” he said, “I’m...serviceable. So long as it’s Jiyeli.”

“Excellent,” she said. “Then you can teach me one.”

“Lady Marin would be the smarter choice if you want dance lessons,” he said, but let himself be dragged off.

“Lady Marin ranked higher than you on the tests,” she said.

“And that’s an argument against her as a teacher how?”

“If you can’t figure it out yourself, I shouldn’t tell you,” she said, nose in the air as if she were a proper lady and not the daughter of a particularly favoured knight.

“You are not as subtle as you think you are,” he said. To his surprise, her hand tightened painfully for a moment.

She didn’t say anything, and it was only a moment’s tension. Revairin delegates. He was regretting everything already.

* * *

“You have all managed to avoiding shaming the nation,” the General said, pacing the room like he was planning an assault. Or how Kanen assumed you would pace to plan an assault.

“Is that a congratulations, sir?” Lady Avalie the Fearless said.

“No, you have performed the bare minimum as required of you,” the General said. His gaze swept over them, lingering pointedly on Duke Lyon – who was either as fearless as Avalie, or his obliviousness matched her bravery.

Bizarrely, Kanen felt a sudden, unexpected Kinship with lady Hanako. It was nice to be ignorable.

Though he had the sense not to flirt with pirates.

“I understand,” the General said, “some of you have developed...flirtations.” He did not sound pleased, Kanen noticed. Also not a fan of pirates then. “I will simply remind you, there are concerns beyond your feelings at play here. You are expected to exercise wisdom.”

Definitely not a fan of pirates.

“I will be watching you,” the General said. “All of you.”

Addendum: he was pleased to be far less notable than Lady Hanako.

* * *

Four days later, Lady Hanako held up a black stone.

Addendum to the addendum: Kanen was downright ecstatic not to be insignificant compared to Lady Hanako. And not just because of the way the General was now looking between her and Lady Avalie.

* * *

Vaida’s blood pounded in her ears as Lady Hanako came down the hall. Something in her stride was purposeful, and it was clear her course was set to collide directly with Vaida.

Somewhere, Adalric’s dead body was being prepared to send home.

Vaida didn’t think about that.

Somehow, the Jiyeli _accident_ was being trusted to protect his alleged murderess.

Vaida couldn’t help but think about that.

Though she did not dwell on alleged.

“Lady Vaida,” Lady Hanako’s voice was surprisingly firm. “If I could have a moment of your time?”

“I have an appointment, in ten minutes,” she said.

Lady Hanako’s smile was rather sharper than Lord Tanay’s. Or less hapless, maybe. “I won’t keep you, I just have a few questions for you.”

Vaida nodded, because she wasn’t able to extract herself without being incredibly overt. And because, maybe, a tiny part of her was hoping she’d be kept well past yet another tea with her highness.

But she didn’t think about that.

* * *

“- and you?” the Princess’s cool gaze landed on Vaida like a pair of darts. “You and Adalric grew up on neighbouring estates, did you not?”

“Yes, though he’s spent most of his time in the city these past years,” Vaida said.

“Still, to lose a childhood friend to a little mouse,” the Princess shook her head, letting the statement hang.

_What do you know of friends_? a tiny, fractured whisper of a voice said in the back of her head. Instead she smiled, smoothing her skirts.

“It does sting a little, yes,” she said. “The brazenness of it.”

“Oh you poor thing,” Lady Phyrine said. “What has your Jiyeli delegate said of Lady Hanako’s role in all this?”

The air _changed_. Princess Gisette’s spin straightened just a bit, her smile curled just a touch more. Around her, everyone sat up a bit straighter. The left side of Lady Phyrine’s smile hiked a touch higher into a smirk.

“Yes,” the Princess said, voice alarmingly mellow. “You’ve been seen with Lord Tanay. Dancing, is it?”

All eyes were on her. Vaida resisted the urge to smooth her skirts again. “I was-” looking for information, she almost said. Except then she’d be expected to _have_ information. “It was just lessons,” she said, knowing it sounded lame.

A few people tittered – or snickered. The hand that gently pat her arm felt like a knife.

She wished Lady Hanako had taken far, far longer.

* * *

Kanen was not hiding. He was employing stealth for purposes of reconnaissance. Namely, how to avoid the General who was, once again, on the prowl for even slightly wayward Jiyeli delegates.

“Lord Tanay.”

Though maybe, if the General found him, he wouldn’t use that excuse. He’d probably get yelled at for being bad at concealment.

“Lady Bevu,” he said, looking up from his spot in the gazebo. “How did you find me?”

“Lady Avalie,” she said which was _just_ about the most alarming response she could have given. She didn’t move or say anything else, just an atypically dark figure against the midday sun.

“Lady Bevu,” he said, and lost what he meant to say when he shifted enough to actually see her. Her usually pale features were whiter than the finest parchment, lips invisible they were pressed so tight. Alarmed, he lurched to his feet, taking her by one limp arm to sit. “Lady Bevu are you well?”

“What is Lady Hanako doing?” she said in lieu of answering him. Kanen blinked, taken aback.

“I – acting as the defense?” he said. In all honesty, this whole murder business was a bit much for him. He’d been keeping clear of the whole affair.

Lady Bevu swallowed visibly, hands pressed to her knees as if she was stopping from doing something with them.

“Can she do it?” she asked him, dark eyes boring into his.

_I don’t know_ , he almost said. Then he looked at her hands, at her white lips.

“Lady Hanako,” he said, weighing his words very carefully. “Has proven to be a singular delegate.” Her lips somehow thinned more. “She can do it,” he found himself saying, against all sense.

_Student Tanay has shown a lack of circumspection that could be a concern. He is encourages to practice keeping his tongue_.

Lady Bevu’s shoulders relaxed just a touch.

“Thank you,” she said, the words barely more than a breath.

He didn’t get the sense she believed him.

He did however, get the sense that wasn’t the point.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Jilly!
> 
> This was meant to be a study of a few different OCs, as you outlined but it got away from me and Vaida and Kanen didn't want to share the scene with anyone. I hope you enjoy this even if it is pretty sedate and insular!


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